A chilly Sheffield evening, but with doors opening to the steel city's biggest metal venue at an early 18:00, this monster of a tour was just about to set the place alight.

The first band of the evening Trigger The Bloodshed no doubt put on a good show, these young guys are spreading their death metal as far and wide as they can. Unfortunately, other business prevented them being a part of this review.

Newly signed to Nuclear Blast, Annotations Of An Autopsy might not be everyone's cup of tea but this show actually seemed less deathcore and with less breakdowns than memory serves. The band came together for a great performance of crushing death metal of the highest standard the band has ever put on. Great stuff.

If you were not in this room for the headliners of the night, you can guarantee it would have been in anticipation of Dying Fetus. The American three-piece took the stage in front of a, by this time packed room of hair, sweat and beer and just hit the nail on the head. With both standing members of the band taking their instrumental role as well as both handling vocals, there never is much movement on the stage. The music does more than just the talking however, Dying Fetus absolutely crush live. Their music is so fast, so technical, so brutal, yet in the live environment the band perform it all perfectly to astonishing results. The band visited both new and old material but unfortunately the set had to come to an end, but not before a swift piss on the mainstream with their impressive musicianship and utterly brutal and groovy music. These are one of those bands you must see live to believe.

So here we were again, the second tour on British shores in one year. Cannibal Corpse were back and this time back in their usual headlining slot. By this time the usually spacious room was boiling hot with hundreds of people squashed in. Pre-sale tickets for this show already hit 600, ensuring for one of those sardine shows. The band took the stage and owned it. George Corpsegrinder and Cannibal Corpse are the archetypal death metal band, it doesn't get any more death metal than this. Straight forward pounding drums led the way into battle through new and old material. The early combination of "I Cum Blood" and "Fucked With A Knife" went down a treat among newer hits such as the modern classic "Make Them Suffer", which always get a great reaction.

The band made sure there was at least one song from each Cannibal Corpse album on the setlist, a treat for die-hard fans of the band to hear oldies such as "Vomit The Soul" and also a couple of newer songs that never seem to see the light of day, such as the brutal "Pit Of Zombies". "Priests Of Sodom" showed the band's latest output is also top draw, but it was a treat of three older numbers where the band had to call it a night. The audience were crazy as expected in the roasting room of sweat, the band certainly got a good reaction and seemed to enjoy themselves on stage. Fantastic set, all hail and long live the Corpse, kings of death metal.

Setlist:

Evisceration Plague
The Time To Kill Is Now
Disfigured
Death Walking Terror
I Cum Blood
Fucked With A Knife
Sentenced To Burn
Evidence In The Furnace
The Wretched Spawn
Perverse Suffering
Scalding Hail
Make Them Suffer
Pit Of Zombies
Shatter Their Bones
Vomit The Soul
Priests Of Sodom
Unleashing The Bloodthirsty
A Skull Full Of Maggots
Hammer Smashed Face
Stripped, Raped And Strangled